C.S. Lewis

Discussion Prompt by Seth Loh

Legend has it that one day, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien were enjoying a pint together when Lewis remarked, “Tollers, there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to write some ourselves.” So, they each agreed to write a story. Tolkien was tasked with writing about time travel and, sadly, never finished his story “The Lost Road.” Lewis, on the other hand, was to write about space travel, and from their friendly agreement the first book of the Ransom trilogy Out of the Silent Planet was born. 

Set in “the heavens” (rather than “space”) to highlight a universe full of warmth, light, and color instead of cold and dark emptiness, the story recounts the adventure of philologist Dr. Ransom on the planet Malacandra. Modeled as an antithesis to the H.G.Wells novel, The First Men in The Moon, Ransom arrives on Malacandra as a captive of crazed physicist, Weston, and Ransom’s greedy schoolfellow, Devine. Their intent is to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the inhabitants of the planet, but despite their plans, a terrified Ransom escapes into the unknown wilds of the new planet. He eventually comes across a “man-sized, otter-like” extra-terrestrial (known as a hross) that seems to be “talking” when the sudden realization that the creatures on the planet have the ability to reason and communicate overshadow all of Ransom’s present fears. He finds refuge with the hrossa, learns their language and habits, their love for poetry and heroism, and even undertakes a rite of passage in hunting the dangerous, shark-like hnakra before the climactic meeting with Oyarsa, the spiritual ruler of of the planet.

Throughout the story, we discover the power of the human imagination to instill hope or fear, the beauty of language to unite and enhance our relationships, and the importance of humility and perspective when in comes to loving our neighbor as ourselves. After all, who is our neighbor? What if they were unlike us in form or function? Does the love of kindred trump the love of other…even if all are “hnau”? Ransom is humbled to discover his own “bent” nature and is forced to come to grips with his own fears and ignorance. At one point, after all of Ransom’s “running”, he ends up standing “face to face” (if you could call it that) with the Oyarsa of Malacandra. As he stands there, nervous, he feels a “tingling of his blood and a pricking on his finger as if lightning were near him,” when Oyarsa asks, ‘What are you so afraid of, Ransom of Thulcandra?”

Perhaps it’s appropriate to ask ourselves the same question. What are we so afraid of? Or to put it another way, what have we idolized that has bent the way we view others and act towards them? More still, when face to face with something truly “other-worldly,” such as Oyarsa, how would we respond? With humility, awe, and submission? Or would we arrogantly and greedily press on in our fear and ignorance as Weston and Devine did – and thus miss out on something greater? 

Cheers to Lewis for once again causing us, through the power of imaginative supposal and fiction, to question what is really good, true, and beautiful. May we always reflect on and, even now, explore those ideas further.